Manufacture of shoes



Nov. '19, 1940.

E T. PETIT MANUFACTURE OF' SHOES Filed Dec. 7, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 [1 -,Ilm y Nav. r9, 1940. E1- pgn-r g 2,221,879

MANUFACTURE OFK SHOES Filed Dec. '7, 1937 5 sheets-sheet 5 Patented Nov. 19, `194() UNITED vSTATES "PTENT Fries MANUFACTURE F SHOES Application December 7, 1937, Serial No. 178,561

3 Claims.

Fig. l is a plan view of a short sole blank, the

outlines of the sole members to be formed therefrom being indicated in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is an edge View of the blank as it appears after having been rounded to outsole size and shape Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a short skeleton insole produced from the sole blank, showing the insole as it appears after its rear portion has been skived;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional View of the outsole produced from the blank, the outsole having a `central forepart projection which is complemental to the forepart opening in the skeleton insole;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the insole shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the outsole shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 'l is a longitudinal sectional view of an insole-outsole combination illustrating a modified construction of the complemental portions of the soles;

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the insole together with the parts which are assembled therewith in the making of a reinforced insole unit, the view illustrating the operation of molding the insole u nit;

Fig. 9 is a perspective View of the insole unit and the last or form shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional View of the insole unit and last illustrating the operation of trimming and bevelng the shank and heel portions of the unit;

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the insole unit showing the upper or foot side thereof as it would appeare if the unit were removed from the last;

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a partially completed shoe embodying the insole unit'shown in Fig. 10;

Fig. 13 is a view, in longitudinal section, of a completed shoe embodying the insole unit sho-wn in Fig. 11;

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the heel shown in Fig. 13;

Fig. 15 is a sectional view of portions of an insole unit in which the shank reinforcing members are applied to the upper or foot side of the unit, the view illustrating the operation of molding the unit; and

Fig. 16 is a fragmentary perspective View of a completed insole unit of the type shown in-Fig. 15.

As illustrated in the drawings, a short sole blank or block sole 2li, comprising forepart and shank portions but having no heel portion, is rounded to the size and shape of a correspondingly short outsole, as indicated by the dotted line 22 (Fig. 1), and the blank is incised, as indicated by the dotted line 24, to outline a short insole of a size and shape appropriate for use with the said outsole in the manufacture of a welt shoe. The rounding operation results in forming the blank 25 which is shown in edge View in Fig. 2. The incision 24 in the blank 25 extends to a depth corresponding to the thickness of a required insole. Advantageously, the rounding and incising operations may be performed by means of a so-called double knife rounding machine,

such for example as that disclosed in United trand. The rounded and incised blank 25 is divided along vthe: dotted line .r-a: (Fig. 2) into a short insole and a short outsole, such as the insole 25 shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and the outsole 28 shown in Figs. 4 and 6, the insole having a cen.- tral opening 36 extending entirely through its forepart and the outsole having a central forepart projection or elevation 32 that is complemental to the insole opening Sil. Alternatively, the blank 25 may be divided into a short insole 260 (Fig. '7) having a central recess 356 extending onlyy part way through its forepart, and a short outsole 28B having a central forepart projection 320 complemental to the insole recess 3BG. This dividing operation may conveniently be performed by means of a matrix roll type splirtting Machine of the general type of that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,053,- 304, granted September 8, 1936, upon application of W. D. Thomas, such a machine having a straight-edgedsplitting knife against which the sole blank is fed edgewise by means of rcooperating matrix rolls which temporarily deform or distort the blank by depressing its central forward portion lso that the knife will emerge around the periphery of the depressed portion of the blank, or will cut nearly but not quite through the depressed portion. The outsole 28 `(or the outsole 280) is of the proper length for use in a shoe having a heel formed witha groove or slot in its breast for receiving the rear extremity of the short outsole. Such a shoe, however, requires a full length insole and accordingly I provide for extending the short insole 26 rearwardly by assembling therewith a heel piece or tuck 36 (Figs. 8, 9 and 11) which is of the same thickness as the insole and corresponds in shape to that of the heel portion of a normal full length insole. To enable the heel tuck 36 to be neatly joined to the short insole the rear extremity of the insole is beveled (as indicated at 38 in Figs. 3, 5, 11 and 15) and a complementary beveled surface 40 is formed at the front extremity of the heel tuck so that the heel tuck and the insole may be spliced together as best shown in Fig. 11 and the surfaces of the heel tuck will be iiush with the corresponding surfaces of the insole. I further provide for reinforcing the shank and heel portions of the insole by assembling therewith a heel and shank reinforcing piece 42 of relatively stiff material and a metallic shank stiifener 44. These reinforcing members 42 and 44 may be applied to the lower or outsole-facing side of the insole, as indicated in Figs. 8 to 12, inclusive, or they may be applied tothe upper or foot-facing side of the insole, as indicated in Figs. 15 and 16.

The above-mentioned parts of my insole unit may be assembled and secured together with the reinforcing members at the lower side of the insole, as indicated in Figs. 8 to l2, inclusive, wherein the insole 26 is secured in place upon the forepart and shank portions of the bottom of a last or form 48 by means of tacks 50 and the heel tuck 36 is placed upon the heel portion of the last or form, the beveled edge 4i] of the tuck being preferably cemented to the beveled edge 38 of the insole. Thereafter the shank stiiiener 44, which is curved longitudinally to correspond to the longitudinal curvature of the last bottom, is placed over the insole and positioned with its longitudinal curvature conforming to that of the insole on the last and the heel and shank reinforcing piece 42 is laid over the heel tuck and the shank portion of the insole, the said parts having previously been coated with suitable cement. The parts are then secured together, as by the pressure of a yielding form 52 (Fig. 8) which cooperates with the last 48 to mold the reinforcing piece, the heel tuck and the shank portion of the insole to the contour of the last bottom. If it should be desired to overmold these parts, a lower form having the desired excess curvature may be ernployed in place of the last 48 and the insole unit, after being molded, will be transferred to the last upon which the shoe is to be made. As indicated in Fig. 9, an oversize heel tuck and an oversize heel and shank reinforcing piece may be ernployed and after these parts have been secured to the insole they may be trimmed to correspond to the outline of the last bottom as by means of a rotary trimming cutter 54 (Fig. 10)'which may advantageously be shaped to bevel the edges of these parts as the parts are being trimmed and, if desired, to bevel also the shank portion of the insole.

While, as above described, the heel tuck 38 is advantageously positioned in assembled relation to the insole 26 before the reinforcing piece 42 and the shank stiffener 44 are applied, it may be desirable to assemble the reinforcing members 42 and 44 with the insole first and thereafter to apply the tuck 38. In either case the insole and the reinforcing piece are molded to last conforming shape in any suitable manner.

In making the shoe an upper 58 is pulled over the last to which the insole unit is applied and the margins of the upper are secured in overlasted position upon the insole unit as indicated in Fig. 12. Thereafter the short outsole 28 is secured to the bottom of the shank and forepart of the shoe with the projection on the outsole intertted within the recess in the insole. A heel is provided which is of a type adapted for use with a short outsole. Such a heel is shown in Fig. 14, the heel 60 having a forwardly projecting tongue 62 at the upper portion of its breast and having also an outsole-receiving breast groove or slot 64 immediately beneath the tongue 62. In applying the heel 60 to the shoe, the tongue 62 is inserted between the insole unit and the rear extremity of the short outsole 28 and the latter is tted within the breast slot 64 in the heel after which the heel may preliminarily be secured in place by means of cement. Thereafter the heel may be permanently attached by any suitable means, such as the screw 66 and the usual heel attaching nails one of which is shown at 68, the screw and the nails extending through both the reinforcing piece 42 and the heel tuck 36. As shown, a sock lining 61 of the usual sort is applied to the upper side of the insole.

In making the insole unit, if it is desired to apply the reinforcing members to the upper orfootfacing side of the insole, the parts of the insole unit may be assembled and secured together, as indicated in Figs. l5 and 16, wherein suitably shaped upper and lower forms 10 and l2 are shown for applying the molding and attaching pressure to the parts of the insole unit. As shown, the shank stiffener 44 and the heel and shank reinforcing piece 42 are applied to the upper or foot side of the short insole 26 and after the parts have been secured together by cement under the pressure of the molding forms the insole unit is removed from the forms, and the heel tuck 36 is applied as shown in Fig. 16, its beveled forward portion overlapping the beveled rear portion 38 of the short insole and its upper surface being secured by cement to the reinforcing piece 42.

A substantial saving of the sole leather results from the practice herein described inasmuch as both the insole and the outside are formed from a blank which has no heel portion. The short o outsole produced from this blank is of the proper length for use in connection with a breastgrooved heel of the type described while the short insole is extended to the desired full length by the assembly therewith of a heel tuck and the usual heel and shank reinforcing piece both of which are formed of relatively stiff but inexpensive material such as iiberboard or leatherboard. The heel portion of the composite insole thus produced is better adapted to receive the heel attaching fastenings than if it were made of leather or other relatively flexible and yielding material such as that employed in the shank and forepart of the insole. It will be noted that regardless of whether the heel and shank reinforcing piece 42 is applied to the upper or to the lower side of the insole there will still be provided, in the heel portion of the insole, an upper member of relatively stiff and hard material (viZ., either the heel tuck 36 or the reinforcing piece 42 itself) against which the heads of the heel fastenings will be seated, thus insuring a secure and permanent attachment of the heel.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in methods of making reinforced insole units which consists in forming a short insole having forepart and shank portions only, applying a shank stiifener and the shank portion of a heel and shank reinforcing piece to the shank portion of the upper or foot-facing side of said short insole and relatively positioning said piece and the insole so that the heel portion of said piece extends beyond the rear extremity of the insole an amount just sufcient to provide a composite insole structure of a desired full insole length, securing together the overlying portions of said reinforcing piece and said insole and simultaneously molding said portions only to shape them in conformity with the curvature of the corresponding portion of the bottom of a last, and thereafter securing to the unmolded heel portion of said reinforcing piece at the side of the latter which is secured to the insole an unmolded heel tuck of a thickness corresponding to that of the insole thereby providing a surface flush with the foot-engaging surface of the insole for supporting the heel of the foot.

2. That improvement in methods of making reinforced insole units which consists in forming a short insole having forepart and shank portions only, beveling the rear edge of said short insole, assembling With said insole a heel and shank reinforcing pieceand a shank stiifener, relatively positioning said parts with the shank stiener between the reinforcing piece and the insole and With the heel portion of said reinforcing piece extending beyond the rear extremity of the insole to provide a composite insole structure of full insole length, securing said parts together in the assembled relation specied and molding the overlying portions only of said insole and said reinforcing piece thereby shaping them to conform to the curvature of the corresponding portion 'of the bottom of a last, providing an unmolded heel tuck of a thickness corresponding to that of the insole and having a beveled front edge, and securing said heel tuck to the vunmolded heel portion of said reinforcing piece at the side of the latter which is secured to the insole and with the beveled edge of said tuck overlapping the beveled edge of said insole.

3. A step product comprising a short insole having forepart and shank portions only, a heel and shank piece having a shank portion coextensive with the shank portion of said insole secured to the upper or foot-facing side of said shank portion and having a heel portion corresponding in length and Width to the heel portion of a full length insole extending rearwardly be? yond the rear extremity of said insole, and av ELMER T. PETIT. 

